Effect of the presence of brood and fungus on the nest architecture and digging activity of Acromyrmex subterraneus Forel (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Santos, Carlos Magno dos; Camargo, Roberto da Silva; Brugger, Mariana Silva; Forti, Luíz Carlos; Lopes, Juliane Floriano Santos

doi:10.1016/j.rbe.2016.12.002

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Compared with controls, citrus pulp reduced the discovery time from ~9 to 5 days for contorta pines and from 11 to 2 days for ponderosa pines, resulting in their defoliation time being reduced by 4 and 2 days, respectively. Citrus pulp is the most commonly used attractant in toxic baits to control LCA (dos Santos et al, 2017). Although it is not attractive for all LCA species (Lima et al, 2003), our results show that, in combination with a repellent, citrus pulp modifies A. lobicornis behaviour, increasing the attractiveness of pine species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Damage reduction of Acromyrmex lobicornis in Pinus ponderosa using mixed pine species in combination with push–pull tools

Alma,

Fernández,

Serra

et al. 2023

Agri and Forest Entomology

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Leaf‐cutting ants (LCAs) cause significant damage to forest plantations and are mainly managed by broad‐spectrum synthetic insecticides. In Patagonia, Pinus ponderosa (Pinales: Pinaceae) (Douglas 1836) and Pinus contorta (Pinales: Pinaceae) (Dluglas 1838) are the predominant pine species in forest plantations. Previous research has shown that dehydrated citrus pulp is an LCAs attractant, and tea tree essential oil acts as an LCAs repellent. We evaluated the use of dehydrated citrus pulp and tea tree oil to manage LCAs behaviour in a push–pull setting, using mixed pine species in small plot fields, to reduce the LCA Acromyrmex lobicornis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) (Emery, 1888) damage in young P. ponderosa plants. We combined the treatment with attractant and repellent in a mono‐specific plantation design (three ponderosa plants surrounded with pulp and three sprayed with tea tree extract) or mixed plantation designs (three contorta plants with pulp and three ponderosa plants with tea tree). The combination of both mono‐specific and mixed plantations with push–pull stimuli delayed discovery and decreased the damage in pines sprayed with the repellent. Mono‐specific as well as mixed species designs were equally effective, reducing ant damage and increasing ~50% the survival probability of P. ponderosa when push–pull stimuli were applied. The use of a push–pull strategy with plant‐based compounds provides potential as a management tool that reduces and delays LCA damage in pine trees.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Damage reduction of Acromyrmex lobicornis in Pinus ponderosa using mixed pine species in combination with push–pull tools

Alma,

Fernández,

Serra

et al. 2023

Agri and Forest Entomology

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“…Leaf-cutting ants (LCA) belonging to the genera Atta and Acromyrmex (Order Hymenoptera, Family Formicidae, Tribe Attini) (Hölldobler and Wilson 1990) are recognized as key herbivores and ecosystem engineers (Farji-Brener and Werenkraut 2015), but also cause large economic losses in numerous crops (Montoya-Lerma et al 2012). The most commonly used control strategy to manage this pest is the use of toxic baits, which typically consist of a citrus pulp attractant with soybean oil, and sulfluramid or fipronil as the main compounds currently under large-scale use (dos Santos et al 2017). However, citrus extracts are not suitable for all species of LCA (Lima et al 2003), and given their cognitive abilities, LCA can learn to avoid toxic baits by associating the attractant with the toxic compound in the bait (North et al 1999).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…wasps (Buteler et al 2017), making it an interesting candidate with potential as attractant to LCA. Here we investigated its attractiveness alone and coupled with food resources, at different doses, and found it to be as attractive as orange pulp, the most commonly used attractant in toxic baits (dos Santos et al 2017).…”

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confidence: 99%

Identification of a novel plant-derived attractant for Acromyrmex lobicornis leaf-cutting ants

Alma

Fernández

Perri

et al. 2019

An. Acad. Bras. Ciênc.

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Leaf-cutting ants are considered major pests of agriculture and forestry in the Neotropics. Attractive toxic baits are the prevailing method for managing them. Thus, there is great interest in identifying attractants to incorporate into these baits. Moreover, leaf-cutting ants can avoid toxic baits by associating the attractant with the toxin. We evaluated attractiveness of heptyl butyrate, a volatile compound found in fresh apples and plums. We conducted field experiments with ten colonies of Acromyrmex lobicornis. First, we evaluated the behaviour of ants exposed to heptyl butyrate at 1% by surrounding resources. Then, we compared the attractiveness of heptyl butyrate and orange pulp, the most commonly used attractant. Finally, we evaluated whether heptyl butyrate increases the attractiveness of a carbohydrate resource at varying doses. Heptyl butyrate at 1% attracted 92% more ants than the control and that it was as attractive as orange pulp. Heptyl butyrate paired with sucrose at concentrations of 0.001 and 0.1% was more attractive than sucrose alone, but greater concentrations did not increase sucrose's attractiveness. Therefore, heptyl butyrate could be added to toxic baits to manage A. lobicornis as it is as attractive as the most commonly used attractant and can be applied directly to the pellets.

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Understanding the mechanics of complex topology of the 3D printed Anthill architecture

Kushwaha

Kumar

Ambekar

et al. 2022

Oxford Open Materials Science

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Objectives The present work aimed to investigate the deformation behavior of complex ant mound architectures under compression. Methods We have used the cement casting method to extract four different ant nest morphologies. These casted cement structures were digitalized using a 3D micro-computer tomography (CT) scan. The digitized structures were simulated under different loading conditions using Finite Element Methods (FEM). In order to supplement the numerical understanding, the digital architectures were 3D printed and experimentally tested under uniaxial loading conditions. Results Ants produce a variety of complex architectures for adapting to the surrounding environment and ants’ needs. Ant mound consists of at least one pillar with a broad base tapered towards its tip. Anthill architectures have unique topological features. Mechanical strength of ant mould can be 600 times enhanced by tuning topology. Thickness and angle of pillars have huge effect on load-bearing property Conclusion The branched structures can endure larger stress and deform in the process under a volumetric pressure application, making them sacrificial units for extreme disasters like floods and earthquakes. The 3D printing experiments and Finite Element Methods simulations are needed to tackle the complex ant mound architectures and appear in good agreement, suggesting a robust design and thus the possibility of constructing anthill-inspired civil buildings with a tree-trunk-like geometry.

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Effect of the presence of brood and fungus on the nest architecture and digging activity of Acromyrmex subterraneus Forel (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Cited by 3 publications

References 20 publications

Damage reduction of Acromyrmex lobicornis in Pinus ponderosa using mixed pine species in combination with push–pull tools

Damage reduction of Acromyrmex lobicornis in Pinus ponderosa using mixed pine species in combination with push–pull tools

Identification of a novel plant-derived attractant for Acromyrmex lobicornis leaf-cutting ants

Understanding the mechanics of complex topology of the 3D printed Anthill architecture

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